Bill “Bojangles” Robinson

Portrait Courtesy of Meredith Carrington and Barry O'Keefe

BILL "BOJANGLES" ROBINSON BOULEVARD 

Leigh Street from Belvidere Street to 3rd Street 

Bill Luther Robinson was born on May 25, 1878 in Jackson Ward in Richmond, Virginia to Maxwell and Maria Robinson – earning the nickname “Bojangles” as a child. At five years old, he began performing in local minstrel shows before relocating to Washington, DC in 1890. The following year, he was hired by Whallen and Martel to tour with Mayme Remington in a show called "The South Before The War." He briefly joined the U.S. Army before continuing to tour with vaudeville shows andbecoming one of the first performers to break the circuit’s “two-coloured rule”, which prevented solo Black acts. He became known as the “Father of Tapology” after introducing the style of dancing “up on the toes” to tap dance, as well as popularizingthe stair dance. He gained national acclaim after starring in several stage revues on Broadway and appearing in over a dozen films – making history as the first performer to have an interracial dance partner in a motion picture. In 1936, he co-founded the New York Black Yankees as part of the Negro National League. He had two prior marriages before meeting his third wife, Elaine Plaines, to whom he married in 1944 and with who he remained with until his death on November 25, 1949. His remains laid in repose at the 369th Infantry Regiment Armory in Harlem, New York, where an estimated 32,000 visitors paid their respects before being buried at the Cemetery of the Evergreens in New York. In 1973, a bronze statue of his likeness was erected in Robinson Square, which was sponsored by the Astoria Beneficial Club – and is located at the intersection where he personally paid to install a traffic light to ensure the safety of neighborhood children in the crosswalk. In 1987, he was inducted into the National Museum of Dance Hall of Fame and two years later, the U.S, Senate declared “National Tap Dance Day” to commemorate his birthday.